Philosophy of the imagination : time, immanence and the events that wound us in Wilson Harris’s Jonestown
Abstract
In his fictional recreation of the People’s Temple massacre, Jonestown, Harris presents us with a protagonist who counter-actualizes the trauma that wounds him, living creatively out of the event and constructing an alternative present-future. Drawing on Deleuzian philosophy, this essay argues for a re-conceptualization of Jonestown in terms that evoke not only Deleuze’s philosophy of time and immanence but also his distinction, via Nietzsche, between active and reactive forces. By means of a character (Francisco Bone) who embraces the power of transformation, creation and difference-in-itself, Harris demonstrates the value of active forces that do not depend on external recognition or dialectical negation in order to be for a postcolonial philosophy of the imagination.
Citation
Burns , L M 2013 , ' Philosophy of the imagination : time, immanence and the events that wound us in Wilson Harris’s Jonestown ' , Journal of Postcolonial Writing , vol. 49 , no. 2 , pp. 174–186 . https://doi.org/10.1080/17449855.2013.776378
Publication
Journal of Postcolonial Writing
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1744-9855Type
Journal article
Rights
This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in the Journal of Postcolonial Writing, Vol. 49, No. 2 (2013) pp. 174–186 [copyright Taylor & Francis], available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17449855.2013.776378#.UahtGpUTHHg
Description
This is a special issue of the Journal of Postcolonial Writing edited by Lorna Burns and Wendy KnepperCollections
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